Candle and method relating thereto



Aug. 25,1936. H. H. ROOT 2,052,005

CANDLE AND METHOD RELATING THERETO Filed May 29, 1933 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 25, 1936 CANDLE AND METHOD RELATING THERETO Huber H. Root, Medina, Ohio, assignor to The A. I. Root Company, Medina, Ohio, at corporation of Ohio Application May 29, 1923, Serial No. 673,395 Y 5 Claims.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a novel and eflicient method of making wax candles; particularly beeswax candles.

A further object is to provide a simplified method of making candles having unusual strength, particularly toughness.

Other objects and features will become apparent from the following description relating to the accompanying drawing showing the preferred forms of the invention.

Another object is to provide a simplified candle of worked and compacted fuel material and method of making the same.

In'the United States patent to H. H. Root No. 1,863,416 are shown and claimed several forms of wax candles composed of worked and compacted wax." These are superior to candles comprising essentially cast wax both in withstanding high temperatures without bending out of erect position and in withstanding abuse in handling, shipping, etc. during low temperature conditions under which candles of cast wax, being brittle, will break easily.

There is a present market for less expensive candles than those shown in said patent, and particularly candles composed largely, if not entirely, of beeswax, providing the superior strength characteristics mentioned above may be retained tosome extent. These strength characteristics cannot be obtained by any of the various methodswherein the melted wax is simply allowed to solidify (dipping, molding and pouring, e. g. commonly used) because beeswax so treated is brit tie and lacks strength because of containing numerous fissures, known as cooling checks. Incidentally beeswax does not lend itself to the method known as molding, (actually casting) on account of having a tendency to cling tenaciously to metal andother materials and being therefore hard to remove from the mold.

The matter'of wick tension and placement is also highly important and when dipped, poured or molded the wick has a tendency to become eccentric relative to the exterior surfaces of the fuel body and to become. stretched locally, causing the candle to have an inherent tendency to bend toward the side on which the wick is disposed when the candle is warmed sufficiently to soften the wax.

In my experiments conducted with the view to further reducing cost while maintaining as many of the desirable characteristics mentioned above as possible, I found that candles of high qualitycan be made from extruded segments of wax, particularly beeswax, using one or more segments per candle, simply laying the wick into place in such relation to the segment or segments as will insure disposition thereof centrally of the finished candle; securingat the same time uniform tension on the wick at all portions thereof. This method is distinct from prior practice known to me, particularly in the treatment of the fuel body material and in the manner of .incorporating the wick therewith, namely; laterally of a segmentally formed strip of predetermined length formed to receive the wick. There are other distinctive characteristics which will be discussed below.

The segments in the simplest form are simply identical candle body halves, for example, grooved or plain semi-cylinders. In some instances it may be desirable to make the body segment in which the wick is initially installed the major portion of the completed body, the segment comprising such a material part of the finished body that only a narrow'groove is left for insertion of the wick; The groove, in such case, may be closed effectively either by the addition of a separate segment or fillet, or, if desired, the material for closing it may be incorporated with the initial segment so as to enable the groove to be closed merely by distorting a single segment.

' In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a machine on the order of that shown in the patent to E. B. Weed, No. 572,588, issued Dec. 8, 1896, but adapted to make candle bodies;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation showing suitable candle body formingdies for such machine;

Fig. 3 is a view showing the component parts of the candle made according to one procedure in carrying out the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing suitable rollers as a means for securing the component parts together;

. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a suitable device for forming the desired surface finish on the candle and otherwise completing the candle;

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of a modified form of candle body segment;

Fig. 7 is a view of a candle body segment or fillet which may be used in connection with the segment shown in Fig. 6 to complete the candle body;

Fig. 8 shows a modified arrangement for finishing a candle body using a segment similar to that shown in Fig. 6, and

Fig. 9 shows two still further modified complementary candle body segments.

Referring in detail to the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a known type of machine including a suitable tank or vat I for the supply of melted Wax W, a suitable drum or cylinder 2, the lower portion thereof being immersed in the supply of melted wax, and suitable mechanism, not shown, for slowly turning the drum thereby carrying a solidified film of wax to a suitable device for removing the wax from the drum. This device as shown comprises a, knife I in the wide portion of a tapered throat 3. The latter as shown is formed in a hollow casting 4 having inner walls 5 and outer walls 6 spaced therefrom and providing a temperature control chamber through which heating or cooling fluid may be pumped in any suitable manner. The knife I projects toward the surface of the drum 2 in such fashion that a wide pliable mass of wax is continuously scraped from the drum and worked and compacted in the throat to an extent such that, assuming the throat is maintained at the proper temperature and the area of discharge passage of the throat is properly related to the capacity of the machine, a homogeneous body of worked and compacted wax is extruded from the throat.

To determine the size and shape of the extruded body a suitable die I0 is rigidly secured to the forward face of the casting 4, the die as shown in Fig. 2 being made in two sections I0 and I0" replacing the usual adjustable dies for making flat sheets. The section I0 has semi-cylindrical recesses I 2 and the section III protuberances I3 axially of the recesses I2. It will be seen that upon operation of the mechanism above described a plurality of elongated segments of wax will be ejected from the die I0. These are now out to lengths by any suitable knife or cutting apparatus and the severed segments assembled together with wicks to form complete candles. The preferred procedure is simply to lay a suitable wick a in one segment (A' Fig. 3) and to accurately place another segment (A Fig. 3) on the first segment, applying suflicient pressure, as by hand, to cause the adjacent faces of the two segments to adhere to each other at each side of the wick. The candle body thus temporarily assembled may now be passed through a pair of rollers such as indicated at I 5, Fig. 4, both to squeeze the wax down tightly against the wick on all sides of the latter and to cause the two segments to more firmly adhere to each other, squeezing out substantially all entrapped air to render the candle as uniform in cross section as possible.

The step illustrated in Fig. 4 may be omitted and the temporarily assembled candle parts of Fig. 3 passed directly through a surface finishing and seam closing device such as illustrated at I6, Fig. 5. This has a tapered opening at I! and a cylindrical e. g. finishing surface at I8 to bring the body to the required diameter. The device I6 may be heated in any suitable manner, say by means of a steam or hot water jacket suggested by recesses I9.

To complete the candle suitable tip and base taper forming dies (not shown) may be used, preferably heated, these operations incidentally insuring closing of the seam at the respective ends and rendering the joint substantially imperceptible. The bases and tips may, of course, be of any shape. Likewise the major external surfaces of the body may be greatly varied, squared, fluted or embossed e. g. as desired.

Instead of making candle body halves, the die I0 may be adapted to form an almost complete candle body section such as illustrated in Fig. 6. In this figure the body has a groove which may be tapered or wedge shaped as at b or parallel sided as at b formed by shaping the opening in the die It] in accordance with the cross section desired, the base of the groove extending somewhat beyond the axis of the entire body. A wick in such case is laid into and stuck to the bottom of the groove and the candle then completed by means of worked and compacted stock, either as a separate segment or fillet C, e. g. Fig. 7, or by means of the stock of the segment B. In the case of using the fillet the wick may be attached as by hand to the inner edge of the fillet or laid in the groove whichever is found easier in practice.

In the event of forming the entire candle body from a single segment as above described the body forming openings in the die Ill are preferably not circular but spread out commensurate with the area defined by the groove (see broken lines B Fig. 8)--so that the desired shape of body is formed when the groove is closed about the wick and so that the wick will be firmly embedded on all sides.

In the modifications just described the assembled parts may be finished either by rolling as suggested in Figs. 4 and 8, or by means of a hot die (Fig. 5), or by using both of these steps, in succession.

Referring to Fig. 9 this shows a further modification of the candle body segments and particularly the formation of interengaging ribs (1 and grooves e on the respective segments. By making one rib and one groove on each segment the dies for forming the segments may be made exactly alike and the segments formed thereby will be interchangeable, thus facilitating assembly. In the case of making beeswax candles the segments of this material adhere firmly to each other when subjected to extremely light pressure, but in case of using lower grade wax such interengagement is of considerable assistance in holding the segments in proper relationship both during the sizing operation and in handling the finished candles.

While the improvements hereinabove described relate more especially to beeswax candles the principles may, of course, be applied to making candles of other materials as well, with modifications in the steps where required by difference in plasticity etc. of other materials from beeswax.

I claim:

1. The method of making a candle comprising shaping pliable wax into the form of an elongated body having a radial groove at one side, extending to the center of the body, placing a wick in the base of said groove and compressing the outer surfaces of the body inwardly to bring the side surfaces of the groove together thereby embedding the wick.

2. The method of making a candle comprising working and compacting fuel material and forming the same into an elongated body having a groove extending the full length thereof and to the center, cutting a section of said body of predetermined length, laying a wick in said section along the base of the groove thereof, and applying inward pressure on the outer surfaces of the body, whereby closing the groove for embedding the wick in the body.

3. The method of making a candle from fuel material which is adhesive at normal room temperatures, comprising shaping said material into an incomplete elongated candle body having its axis accessible radially for its full length, placing a wick into substantially continuous contact with the body along said axis, and then completing the body by forcibly joining substantially radially extending complementary surfaces of the body material to form a seam without the use of cement meanwhile forcibly bringing opposite portions of the body material into contact with the wick to hold the same, the adhesiveness of the fuel material maintaining the seam closed.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein the candle body is passed through a heated tapered die in a direction toward the smaller end of the taper and thereby applying pressure radially of the body in a manner to press the seam surfaces together while welding the fuel material at the radially outward portions of the seam into a substantially homogeneous mass.

5. In making candles from fuel material that is plastic and somewhat adhesive at normal room temperatures, the method of forming substantially radial seam faces on the fuel material and a wick-receiving groove adjacent one of said faces, placing a wick in the groove by movement of the wick transverse to its axis, applying pressure on the body material in opposite directions substantially normal to the said faces to close the seam, and envelop the wick, and then passing the resulting composite candle member through a heated tapered die toward the small end of the taper to finish the candle and substantially obliterate the seam.

HUBER H. ROOT. 

